Collapsible reel



May 11, 1943. ",1. TRHE Em 2,318,906

GOLLAPSQIBLE REEL Filed Nov. 12, 1941 2' Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 11, 1943 UNIT-ED PATENT OFFICE COLLAPSIBLE-REEL Herman'J. Troche, Cleveland HeightsyandD-aniel Kellehen'strongsville, Ohio, assignors-to The *jAm'erican Coach--85 Body Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application November 12, 1941, Serial No.i41'8;769 Iii-Claims. 21.24.2411) The object of this invention is to provide a very simple-light, cheap and eflicient collapsible reel, such as are customarily'mounted on'utility vehicles, for instance. Our invention is concerned with the body or frame of the reel and with the rim segments movably mounted on such body.

Heretofore the radial frame and the segments have usually been of cast'metal. We have devised the main spiderof the frame and the segments of such form that they may be made of sheet-metal and still possess the requisite strength and stiffness. This; enables these. parts to be of much less' weight, thus avoiding unnecessary load on the'vehicle carrying such a reel and saving unnecessary power in starting and stopping therotation of the reel.

Our frame and segments 'are shown in the drawings hereof as embodied on a collapsible reel of the type shown in Patent No. 1,862,598, issued 'June 14,1932 to American Telephone 8: Teleplane indicated by the line 2--2 on Fig. 1;' Fig.

3 is a fragmentary elevation showingone'of the attached segments looking from the opposite direction to Fig. 1;' Fig.4 is a perspective of the frame of the segment, the saddle portion of the segment being shown in broken-lines; Fig.-5-'is a detail in a cross section of the oneend portion' of the segment frame, as indicated by the-line 55 in Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a perspective (partly broken away) of a portion of the main' spider' of the reel.

We will first describe the collapsible reel shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and then take up the details of the improved main spider and rim segments.

As shown, the reelisprovided with a hollow central shaft 5- adapted to'be aligned with and mounted'on a suitable power shaft 6, shown in broken lines in Fig. 2. As shown; the shaft 5 is provided with longitudinal slots 8 which turn inwardly and s'erv'to engage the ends of a fixed pin Swhich extends through the driving shaft. A spring It] provided in the shaft 5 is undercompression against the end of the'p'ower shaft and thereby maintains the pin 9 of that'shaft' in the undercut portions of the slots 8.

The reelshown ismounted on the outer end 'ofthe shaft 5 and is providedwith'an inner or fixed' spider l2; constructed in accordance with our inventionas 'hereinafter m'ore fully explained,

'adapted'to move longitudinally on the endof the 10-' shaft, its rangeof movement being between the inner-"end off thehubof spider l2-and asuitable stop plate-which may be in the formof a'flange on-a nut l5 screwed into the end of the reel shaft. The spider l3 'isprevented from'rotating on the shaft 5 by means of apin l8 which extends through its huband slides in a slot l9,

"positioned longitudinally on the shaft.

The reel may -be provided'with any suitable number of arms extending radially: from a central hub or shaft. These arms cooperate with each other to form a rotatable supportfor the arcuatesegments '30, the'bases of which form a sectional rim. The segments are curved. on a radius. equal to the'curvature of the coil to be carried, and so proportioned to provide sufficient bearing surface so that a-coil of practically circular-nature may be formed thereon. Theseseg- .rments form a sectional rim-and connect each pair of parallel arms onthe spidersv l2 and. I3.

The segments are provided adjacent theirinner --ends with holes to'receive pins lipivotallyconnecting the segments with the associated arms ofthe spider l2. .The other ends of the .segments are pivotally connected bypins 16 to one end of links H, the other .ends of which links are pivotallyconnected with the bifurcated outer ends lapsed assume the position in dotted lines in Fig.

.' 2. This collapses the reel and .enables'the coil tions.

The arms of this spiderare shown asf-sheet metal members bent upon themselves to produce integrally-connected webs=25 and-26; which have separated edge. flanges 21 and 28 as shown in Fig. 6. At the bottom of the web 25 is an inward flange 25a and at the bottom of the web 26 is an outward flange 26a, while at the bottom of the sides 2'! and 28 are outward flanges, all of these bottom flanges having circular inner peripheries enabling their snug mounting on the hub 20.

The main flanges 21 and 28 of the armsare flanged outwardly at their edges as at 21a and 28a which latter flanges are spot-welded to the disc 2|. This makes a very stiff and effective arm for carrying the pivots of the segments,

which arms, however, like thedisc of the spider,

are of comparatively light construction, thus materially reducing the weight.

Where the material constituting the arm bends backwardly on itself at the outer end of .the arm, the outer portion forms a semi-cylinder as shown in Fig. 6,.and the adjacent ends of the flanges 2! and 28 are cut off by quadrant arcs, so as to leave a cylindrical opening 29 in the arm extending in the direction of a chord. Mounted in this opening and spot-welded to the parts is a metal sleeve 2911., Fig. 2, designed to receive the pivot pin I4 for the heel of the segment.

Coming now to the construction of the reel segments 30 it will be seen that each segment has a saddle-shaped sheet metal shoe 3i which, measured longitudinally, has an intermediate straight bottom 32, and two outwardly inclined or flaring end portions 33. Measured in a circumferential direction the bottom 32 is curved in a direction which is a are of a circumference about the center of the reel. Each end portion 33 is approximately triangular, being bounded by curved lips 34, these lips meeting in a rounded extreme tip 35.

, The shoe 3i described is supported and carried by a sheet metal frame 40, which is in the nature of a channel beam facing inwardly, except that its flanges 4| at their inner edges are turned outwardly into the form of oblique wings 42. The shoe 3l rests on the intermediate web 43 of the channel beam and is welded thereto, and the flanges 42 incline toward the shoe and abut it adjacent the edge, where such inclined wing is welded to the shoe just back of the extreme edge thereof.

One end of the intermediate web 43 of the beam 40 is extended and then turned integrally outward at 46 and then inclined as at 41, Fig. 4, such inclined portion being welded to the underside of the shoe 3|. At .the other end of the segment frame 40 we weld a. pair of struts 50 which extend outwardly fromthe frame and are then bent at right angles to themselves as shown at Fig. 4, such flanges being welded to the outer side of the shoe 3| at that end. The struts 50 are welded to the side flanges 4| of the frame. By this means the shoe itself is very efiectively connected to the sheet metal frame and forms a rigid unit therewith To form a bearing for the pin I4, connecting the left hand end of the segment, Fig. 2 with the corresponding aim of the fixed spider l2, we double the ends of the struts 50 on themselves, as shown at 52, and the pin I4 is thus carried by such doubled end of the body of the strut and by the flanges 4| of the sheet metal frame. This forms an effective support for the segment on the pin,

Near the right hand end of the segment, Figs. 2

and 4, we provide a bracket 60 extending inward radially to receive the movable pin l6 of the toggle. This bracket is preferably a single piece of sheet metal, formed, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, having an intermediate web 5| from which there extend outward flanges 52 and from the edge of these flanges the metal is doubled back at 63, to provide four thicknesses of metal having aligned openings 65 to receive the pin l6 of the toggle. The upper end of the bracket 60 extends within the channel-shaped frame 40 and is welded to it.

It will be seen that we have provided a segmentmade up of a comparatively few pieces of sheet metal,- formed into shape and welded to- 5 By making this shoe of sheet metal we not only reduce the cost of construction, but we materially lighten the weight of the reel and reduce the inertia in starting and stopping the same.

To collapse the reel whenever desired, the operating mchanism shown in Figs. 1 and 2 may be provided. As shown there is a control member in the form of a handle 10 positioned on the outer end of the shaft 5. This handle which provides locking means is rotatably mounted on a bolt H. The bolt is secured to the hollow nut l5 threaded into the end of the shaft 5. A spiral spring 12 is positioned on the bolt H, within the nut and provides compression to frictionally engage the hub of the handle, preventing the handle from turning under vibration. The handle 10 is provided with projecting extensions which terminate in diametrically opposite fingers 13. These fingers have ends which are turned inwardly toward each other and engage helical grooves 14, 14, in the hub of the spider I3. The two helical grooves l4, 14, each extend only half the distance about the hub, and are positioned approximately apart.

It will be readily understood from the description given that when the reel is in an operating position, as shown in Fig. 2, a left hand or a counter-clockwise rotation from the handle 10 forces the sliding spider inwardly to break the toggle and tip the rim segments into the collapsed position indicated in broken lines. After the coil, which has been reeled, has been removed from the collapsed reel, the same may be restored to active position by rotation of the handle 10 in the opposite direction.

In the following claims we find it convenient to refer to the radial arms extending upwardly and having flanges at their bottom, as shown in Fig. 6, and to refer to the shoe of the segment as extending upwardly at its ends and downwardly at its sides and the frame 45 beneath it, and there being end portions extending upwardly to the shoe, etc, suchdirections applying particularly to Fig. 4. It is to be understood, however, that the structures thus described are intended to be covered, whatever their position, and irrespective of whether the parts extend upwardly or downwardly,

We claim:

1. A spider for a reel or similar article'comprising a. hub, a disc in a plane transverse to the hub having at its inner periphery a flange embracing the hub, a plurality of radial arms made of channel shaped portions of sheet metal on opposite sides of the disc, each of said portions being flanged at its lower edge and secured to the hub and having its side members flanged and secured to the disc.

2. A spider for a reel or similar article comprising a hub, a disc lying in a transverse plane secured to the hub, a plurality of radial arms, each arm consisting of a member intermediately bent over beyond the periphery of the disc to produce integral portions on opposite sides of the disc, each of said portions being secured to the disc and to the hub.

3. A spider for a reel or similar article comprising a hub, a disc lying in a transverse plane secured to the hub, a plurality of radial arms secured at their inner ends to the hub and projecting beyond the disc, said arms being of sheet metal with side portions flanged at their edges and these flanges secured to the disc, the disc having a stiffening flange at its outer edge which is interrupted Where the arms cross the disc.

4. A rim segment for a collapsible reel com prising a sheet metal shoe of saddle-shape extending upwardly at its ends and intermediately curved downwardly at its opposite sides, a frame of inverted channel-shape extending longitudinally of the shoe located between the downwardly curved side portions, the intermediate region on the shoe being secured to the frame, arms secured to the frame and to upturned portions of the shoe, and means on the frame for movably and pivotally carrying the shoe.

5. A rim segment comprising a sheet metal shoe bent upwardly at its ends and downwardly transversely in the intermediate region of the sides, a frame in the form of an inverted channel lying beneath the shoe and secured to it, the edges of the downward flanges of the channel being turned outwardly and secured at their ends to the down-turned sides of the shoe.

6. A rim segment comprising a sheet metal shoe turned upwardly at its ends and downwardly transversely at its sides between such ends, a frame of inverted channel shape beneath the shoe, upstanding struts from opposite ends of the frame abutting the upwardly turned portions of the shoe on their outer sides and secured to them and oblique wings extending from the lower ends of the downward flanges of the channel beam to the shoe and secured to it.

'7. A rim segment comprising a sheet metal shoe turned upwardly at its ends and intermediately turned downwardly at its sides in a transverse direction, and a frame in the form of a channel-shaped sheet metal beam lying beneath the shoe between the sides, one end of the web of the channel beam being turned upwardly and welded to the shoe at that end.

8. A rim segment comprising a sheet metal shoe turned upwardly at its ends and intermediately turned downwardly at its sides in a transverse direction, a frame in the form of a channelshaped sheet metal beam lying beneath the shoe between the sides, and struts secured to the flanges of the channel beam adjacent one end and extending upwardly and welded to the outer side of the shoe at that end of the segment.

9. In a rim segment, the combination of a saddle-shaped shoe, a frame in the form of a channel beam beneath the shoe, struts secured to the outer sides of the flanges of the channel beam extending upwardly and welded to the shoe adjacent one end thereof, a bracket composed of a piece of sheet metal double on itself occupying the space between the flanges of the channel beam adjacent the other end and projecting away from such beam, there being openings through the flanges and struts at one end for a pivot pin to support the shoe, and openings through the bracket adjacent the other end to receive the pin of a movable supporting and operating mechanism.

10. A rim segment comprising a saddle-shaped shoe of sheet metal, a frame of channel-shape on the non-engaging side of the shoe extending along the bottom of the shoe in the direction from one upstanding portion to the other, and arms projecting from the ends of the frame toward the up-turned portions of the shoe. said arms being welded to such up-turned portions.

HERMAN J. TROCHE. DANIEL KELLEHER. 

